GREat Oaks Reads

Smart Reads for Smart Students

Month: March 2015

(The following passage on food photo sharing contains 38 GRE words. If you find it difficult to understand, read through the explanation of the meanings of the words (given with illustrative sentences) and then reread the passage.)

The food photo sharing phenomenon (or what you might call the visual department of gastronomy) is in full swing. New tools such as Foodspotting and Eat.ly are constantly proliferating. Add in the photo-handling capabilities of sites like Foursquare and it’s no surprise that the “eat and tweet” trend has inundated social media feeds. Interestingly enough, this flood of food images is being engendered not just by gourmands or even specialist food sites, but ordinary philistines like you and me who have no expertise in food beyond our own pedestrian predilections. Showing – not just telling – others what you’re eating is becoming mainstream. So is vicariously enjoying others’ food. Why is everyone suddenly so keen to snap their snacks (and gorge on images of the food that others eat)? Does this simply reflect a universal human desire to share things that gives us pleasure? Is it showing off or, is it a drive to gain status? What is the genesis of this new drive? And how is it changing our approach to food and eating?

Living in a foreign country can be both exhilarating and daunting. So can finding the ‘perfect’ roommate.

Anyone who plans to do an ‘MS in US’ has to stay away from family and venture out on their own; and most of you will have come a ton across of horror stories about staying with complete strangers. Differences over how to arrange the apartment, food preferences, keeping different hours or even a sharing a bathroom can turn your dream of studying in America pretty sour! What may not have been significant when you lived with your family may become huge issues when you start sharing living space with others. So, maybe this will sound like advice for someone who is looking for a life partner rather than just a room partner but remember you are going to be sharing cooking, washing up and even laundry duties with that person (or those people). You are going to have to make arrangements to pay the rent and other bills and to share the keys – if that’s not like being married then what is? So, you have to make up your mind about what you are looking for in someone you are probably going to see, be with and work with almost every single day of your stay in the United States.

Hi folks! Today’s post is a write up by Shraddha Barawkar, an engineering student (see brief bio below) about her GRE test experiences at the Prometric Center at Goregaon. We thought it might be interesting for all you GRE candidates out there to hear about how things worked out for her.

Name: Shraddha Barawkar

Branch: Mechanical Engineering

College: Pune Vidhyarthi Griha’s College of Engineering and Technology

GRE Date: 5 December 2014

GRE Center: Prometric Testing Pvt Ltd

Center Location: Techniplex I, Goregaon (West), Mumbai

Ideally, you should enter your GRE test center full of pep and leave it with a smile! But if you don’t prepare for conditions at the test center or think about travelling there, you may be in for an energy drain that can wipe the smile right off your face. And that can throw off your performance in the GRE!

For students who have given the GRE more than once, the worry has always been that the universities will see their low scores along with their high ones. To deal with this problem the ETS launched the ScoreSelectTMfeature some years ago. ScoreSelect allows you to decide which GRE scores will go to universities and colleges which means that you can omit poor scores from your graduate school applications. If you are retaking the GRE therefore, or have GRE scores that you are not keen to show the universities, it seems that ScoreSelect will allow you to breathe a little more easily. But you should be aware that this apparent boon does have its limitations.